ADAM SCOTT has selected seasoned compatriot Marc Leishman as his partner for the World Cup of Golf to be played at Kingston Heath Golf Club in November following the withdrawal of Jason Day.
Leishman, winner of six events worldwide, will partner the world number six to form one of the 28 two-man teams who will represent their countries in Melbourne from November 23-27.
It was probably a reasonably easy decision for Scott to choose the 32 year old Leishman.
The big Victorian often seems to lift for the big events – he has a very healthy record in the majors – and the pair do have a history together.
Leishman was paired with Scott when he won his green jacket at the US Masters in 2013 and photos of him celebrating in the background as Scott sunk the winning putt are priceless.
Leishman, who will be making his World Cup of Golf debut, won the 2012 Travelers Championship on the US PGA TOUR and has five other international victories, including his most recent at the 2015 Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa on the European Tour last December.
Leishman was voted Rookie of the Year in 2009 on the US PGA TOUR after three top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish to Tiger Woods at the BMW Championship.
Scott and Leishman were teammates on the International Team in The Presidents Cup in 2013 and in 2015. The two were paired together in 2015 during the Saturday foursomes where they defeated Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes 1-up. Leishman also defeated Jordan Spieth that year in singles play.
“I’m extremely excited about playing in the World Cup of Golf with Adam. I can’t wait to represent my country back home in Australia,” Leishman said. “Also, my best to Jason for a quick recovery.”
“It’s (Kingston Heath) probably in the top three, to be honest. Along with Augusta National Golf Club and St. Andrews. Kingston Heath is not long, it’s a very fun golf course and you can shoot really low there. You’ll have a lot of wedges in your hand – you have to be really precise,” Leishman added in an interview earlier this year.
Leishman’s selection came after Jason Day announced last week that he was forced to withdraw due to a back injury and would be sitting out tournament golf till 2017.
The 2016 World Cup of Golf will return to a 72-hole, stroke play, two-man team event format. The first and third days of competition will be the foursomes (alternate shot) format and the second and final days are fourball (best ball) play.
World Cup of Golf 2016 Field
Player Country Partner
Adam Scott AUS Marc Leishman
Rickie Fowler USA Jimmy Walker
Danny Willett ENG Lee Westwood
Hideki Matsuyama JPN Ryo Ishikawa
Russell Knox SCO Duncan Stewart
Rafa Cabrera Bello ESP Jon Rahm
Shane Lowry IRL Graeme McDowell
Byeong Hun An KOR K.T. Kim
Thongchai Jaidee THA Kiradech Aphibarnrat
Soren Kjeldsen DEN Thorbjorn Olesen
Danny Lee NZL Ryan Fox
Alex Noren SWE David Lingmerth
Francesco Molinari ITA Matteo Manassero
Bernd Wiesberger AUT Martin Wiegele
Thomas Pieters BEL Nicolas Colsaerts
Joost Luiten NED Darius van Driel
Jaco Van Zyl RSA George Coetzee
Jamie Donaldson WAL Bradley Dredge
Jhonattan Vegas VEN Julio Vegas
Victor Dubuisson FRA Romain Langasque
Alex Cejka GER Stephan Jaeger
Ricardo Gouveia POR Jose-Filipe Lima
David Hearn CAN Graham DeLaet
Ashun Wu CHN Haotong Li
Miguel Tabuena PHI Angelo Que
Cheng Tsung Pan TPE Chan Shih-chang
SSP Chawrasia IND S Chikarangappa
Danny Chia MAS Nicholas Fung
